ANAHEIM, Calif. - Matt Dumba and Jared Spurgeon scored early in the second period, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Ducks 2-1 Sunday night in coach Bruce Boudreau's triumphant return to Anaheim.

Boudreau was fired by the Ducks after their first-round playoff exit last spring despite leading Anaheim to the past four consecutive Pacific Division titles and Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference finals. The veteran coach has turned his new team into an early-season Stanley Cup contender with 14 wins in its last 16 games.

Devan Dubnyk made 23 saves for the Wild, who won twice on their three-game California road trip.

Ryan Kesler scored and John Gibson stopped 34 shots for the Ducks, whose three-game winning streak ended. Anaheim played without captain Ryan Getzlaf, who missed his third straight game.

The Ducks made no public acknowledgement of Boudreau's return to Honda Center, where he replaced the fired Randy Carlyle and immediately injected life into a middling franchise early in the 2011-12 season. He went 208-104-40 with the Ducks, hanging four division banners in the rafters and falling one agonizing game short of the Stanley Cup Final in 2015.

But after last season ended with a seven-game loss to Nashville in the first round, general manager Bob Murray abruptly fired Boudreau. The Ducks won just three combined rounds in four postseason trips under Boudreau, losing a Game 7 on home ice in four straight years, and Murray chose to get rid of the coach instead of breaking up his roster core.

The Wild eagerly hired Boudreau, who has won eight division titles in his nine seasons behind an NHL bench. He has immediately turned Minnesota into an early-season Stanley Cup contender, getting the Wild (25-9-5) off to the best first half of a season in franchise history.

After a long search for Boudreau's replacement, Murray decided to re-hire Carlyle, the winningest coach in franchise history and the leader of their 2007 Stanley Cup champions - even though Carlyle won only one playoff round in his final four seasons before Murray fired him the first time.

Carlyle kept Boudreau's two assistants, and Anaheim has kept its spot in the Pacific race, while the Wild have taken off with Boudreau. The Ducks hadn't lost at home in regulation in eight games since Nov. 25.

Anaheim took the lead in the first period when Jakob Silfverberg stole the puck deep in Minnesota's end and Kesler scored on the rebound. Their line has been dominant in recent weeks, and Kesler's goal was the 25th of his career against the Wild in just 57 games.

But Minnesota scored twice in 1:42 after consecutive Ducks penalties early in the second. Dumba connected with a two-man advantage, and Jason Pominville's shot skipped off Spurgeon and past Gibson to put the Wild ahead.

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It might not have been the case earlier this weekend, but Bobby Ryan and Guy Boucher have arrived at the same page.

After the Ottawa Senators coach declined to reveal the reason for the winger's scratch Saturday, Ryan did the same after the club's 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers the following night.

"I had a personal issue that arose," Ryan said. "I saw what (Guy) said and I'm going to follow him on that. What coach said was accurate; we dealt with it in house, and we're going to keep it in house. That's it."

He continued: "As far as we're concerned, (it's) already done. It's a non-issue."

Ryan recorded a shot in a little less than 15 minutes versus the Oilers.

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After losses to Jonathan Toews in back-to-back Olympic Games, and again at the recent World Cup of Hockey, U.S. National Team member Patrick Kane earned a measure of revenge Sunday night.

Kane posted a picture of himself and his Canadian teammate wearing his U.S. jerseys, the result of a bet between the Chicago Blackhawks stars on the recent gold-medal game at the World Junior Championship.

The two have a history of poking fun at each other on Twitter - but this round certainly goes to Kane.

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One to distort for the grandchildren.

Chicago Blackhawks rookie Ryan Hartman collected his first career hat trick (and a natural one at that) Sunday night versus the Nashville Predators, scoring with a pair of empty-net goals 42 seconds apart late in the third period.

Sticking with the unconventional, Hartman's scoring began rather appropriately with a fortunate bounce off his left hip as he drove to the front of the net.

On his second, Richard Panik chased the puck Hartman had flipped toward the vacated net, but resisted the urge to whack it in. Finally on his third, Hartman aimlessly fired the puck while deep in his own zone. But when it struck the back of Patrick Kane, luck would have it that the Blackhawks gained control, sending Hartman in for his trick.

It was a serendipitous night, but Hartman reached double-digit totals for goals in his rookie season nonetheless, and now ranks fifth among Blackhawks in that department.

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Captain Nick Foligno made sure the Columbus Blue Jackets avoided their first three-game losing streak on the season by scoring in overtime Sunday versus the Philadelphia Flyers.

Columbus' win makes nine in a row over the Flyers at home, while the extra point kept the Jackets three points clear of the other Pennsylvania outfit in the Metropolitan Division standings.

The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2.

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Captain Nick Foligno made sure the Columbus Blue Jackets avoided their first three-game losing streak on the season by scoring in overtime Sunday versus the Philadelphia Flyers.

Columbus' win makes nine in a row over the Flyers at home, while the extra point kept the Jackets three points clear of the other Pennsylvania outfit in the Metropolitan Division standings.

The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2.

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Patrick Maroon leads the Edmonton Oilers in goal scoring.

We repeat, Patrick Maroon leads the Edmonton Oilers in goal scoring.

Normally, this alert would serve as a harbinger for another last-place finish. Because, with more than half of the season's schedule completed, it's rarely a good sign to have a player that's only hit double digits in goals once before taking rank on the spreadsheet.

But it's not as much of a concern with the Oilers still fighting for tops in the division, and Maroon appearing to be the right fit on the left wing for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the No. 1 line.

After scoring a hat trick Thursday in Boston, Maroon scored his 15th and 16th goals on the season 63 seconds apart in the second period on Sunday to bring the Oilers level with the Ottawa Senators.

Maroon now has 15 even-strength goals, which is rather remarkably just two shy of Auston Matthews for the NHL lead.

His second had the benefit of a deflection off a defender's skate, but his first was full value:

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Andrei Vasilevskiy liked 2016 just fine.

Making his fourth straight start with Ben Bishop still out with injury, Vasilevskiy was rung up for five goals on 36 shots in Sunday's 6-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

What's amazing is that Sunday's loss was the Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender's second-best outing since the calendar turned - at least statistically. Vasilevskiy's allowed at least four goals in each of his last four starts, sporting an .855 save percentage over that stretch.

Of course, the Lightning - now losers of six of their last eight games - haven't helped out their netminder one bit. Vasilevskiy's faced 80 shots in his last two games, and the Lightning are averaging 33 against in 2017.

This isn't just a recent concern. Tampa Bay, which ranks fourth-to-last in goals against, has now allowed four or more goals in nearly 40 percent of its games this season. Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times points out that it happened just 11 times last year.

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